Florida Panthers willing to trade second overall pick, but don’t expect Edmonton Oilers to land it

Panthers general manager Dale Tallon made it clear he was willing to talk about trading the second overall pick in an interview at the NHL draft combine on Friday. Despite his comments, it’s extremely unlikely that a team as far down as the Edmonton Oilers (seventh overall) will be able to make a pitch that sways Florida into a deal.

You see what they’re willing to pay, and that’s the fun part of the job. I’ve had a couple of mild conversations here and there this week, ‘Are you going to move the pick?’ Make me an offer. That’s the way it goes. You start the process early, and you work it all the way through till the five minutes before you make the pick, maybe a minute before the pick.

The reason it’s likely to be so difficult to make a trade for the second overall pick is because the consensus seems to be that there isn’t the same kind of drop-off between first and second this year that there is in most seasons. Defenceman Seth Jones, the consensus number one, is a fantastic player, but competitors Nathan MacKinnon and Jonathan Drouin are described as legitimate possibilities for that selection. Here’s how Red Line Report’s Kyle Woodlief put it earlier this week:

We have Seth Jones number one at Red Line Report, with Jonathan Drouin two and Nathan MacKinnon three. You can argue any order for those three, really.